A Comprehensive Analysis of RWBY Ships
by PathofOdinSonofThor
Summary: In which I review a good portion of pairings that the ship war has come up with based on the two characters chemistry with one another. Unedited, includes various rankings.


**(A/N) At the risk of being roasted alive by the entire fandom, and possibly in a sleep deprived state, it seemed like a good idea after watching a video analysing RWBY ships to do my own analysis. Keep in mind, this is an opinion piece so feel free to leave a review telling me why you agree with these reviews, why you disagree, what your favorite ship is and why, or if you just want to tell me how much you hope I die in a fire, that works too. I'm very open to input on this. What works for me and makes me love the idea of two characters together might be different for other people, so feel free to reply to this.**

A Comprehensive Analysis of RWBY Ships

RWBY is a great show. While most reviews of the writing and characterization would say otherwise, RWBY wouldn't be one of Rooster Teeth's highest ranked shows, having been confirmed for a sixth season, if there wasn't something enjoyable about the series, and I think it stands to reason that there is one single thing that stands above the rest. Quite simply, people love the characters. Whether we're talking about Weiss's bitchiness or Penny being an idiot, any time a character comes on screen, you can bet that there is a large following of people who cheer when they see their face. The mute assassin Neo, for instance, is so popular that she is even getting her own spinoff series come late 2018. Naturally, thanks to the variety of complex characters, and with how many people fall in love with them, it only stands to reason that a violent, bloody ship war was not only a likely event, but a complete inevitability.

In this essay, many of the ships within RWBY (Arkos and Monochrome for example), will be analyzed based on the interactions the two characters have had throughout the series. The analysis itself will be based not on how well written individual characters are, but rather the chemistry they have with the person they are shipped with, whether that means how they treat each other, how they behave around one another, or what they add to the other's character arc. I will subjectively mention which ships are my favorites, but objectively speaking, my own feelings will not impact the review of each of the ships within this essay.

That said, I not only placed a standard of which to base each review, but also which pair to put within this article. For starters, while shipping two characters who have never once had any screen time together, and for all intents and purposes, don't know the other exists within canon like Neptune and Cinder. Also, I won't put in any ships that involve anything arguably immoral such as the power dynamic that comes with Teacher x Student, or anything involving incest such as Enabler, and in this sense, there aren't many Villain x Hero ships that I will mention except for anything outside of canon such as Falling Petals.

To summarize, the ships that will be analyzed fall under these factors: 1) The pair needs to have had screen time together, regardless of if that screen time was meaningful or not. 2) No Teacher x Student, Villain x Hero, or incest. As for the analysis itself, they will fall under one simple rule and that's how well the characters work together in either a romantic, hate-fueled, or platonic sense. With that said, let's begin!

 _Rennora: Ren x Nora_

While I could personally go one or way or the other with this one, I'm starting with it because this ship is basically canon after the finale of Volume 4. Granted, nothing really happened to add to it in Volume 5, but at this point, the only reason Rennora won't become canon is if one of them dies or one turns out to be gay. Nora even has a love song that played during their sweet moment on the ferry to Mistral after the fight with the Nuckelavee. I don't know how much clearer Rooster Teeth can be with them.

That aside, the reason these two would work together, and is arguably the best ship in the series is because they ultimately complete each other. While Ren is calm and taciturn, Nora is energetic and jovial. When it comes to their backstory, they both experienced the same fight that the other had to go through during the fall of Kuroyuri, but the best part about that part of their shared past is that Nora already lost her home and family and could help Ren cope while he also helped her find a home within him, coming to a head for both of their character arcs when Ren was finally able to get revenge and Nora ultimately saved his life. Plus, I think Nora's incessant behavior towards Ren, such as her being blatantly happy with him staring up her skirt, finding any excuse she can to be near him or touch him, and again, the finale of Volume 4 with them in the helicarrier with Boop playign in the background while she holds his hand and they snuggle up together, speaks for itself. These two are almost canon.

 _Arkos: Jaune x Pyrrha_

Yet another show the writers are pushing, or rather were pushing. These two complement one another in one of the best ways that hardly any other show can manage, and that's that both Jaune and Pyrrha are foils to one another. Both of their actions help one another develop as people. While their friendship starts off as something that a large number of shows within every genre has covered- popular girl falls for incompetent idiot because he treats her the same way he treats everyone else -this dynamic grows into something even better where Pyrrha takes an active stance towards helping Jaune work past his flaws. Even after Pyrrha's death, the friendship she had with Jaune is still affecting him, and not just because she died, but the relationship they had before her death.

Something else that can be said is that their friendship extends passed the superficial, physical boundaries on the surface. Sure, this pair is being pushed by the creators. Anyone and everyone can see that these two characters are in love with one another, even if they're both too stupid to see it, and while the sexual tension without that sweet release they so desperately need, their friends before anything else. Many shows fail in this regard. Many shows will simply take the pair that it wants to make canon, and build everything around the relationship for those two characters around their sexual tension, but Arkos doesn't see that. When it comes to how Jaune and Pyrrha treat Arkos, you can see that their feelings for each other do somewhat motivate how they treat one another, but that there is something beyond that that drives these characters together. They care about one another beyond what the other can give them. They're deeply concerned with other's well being and happiness. They have an astoundingly deep friendship that adds to the complexity of their relationship, and this is something a lot of romances in other shows fail.

A lot of shows will have a relationship that ends at romance. For Arkos, there is hurt/comfort, friendship, and romance all thrown into a melting pot of tears and sadness anD PLEASE DON'T SINK MY SHIP.

 _Martial Arcs: Ren x Jaune_

This is one of the worst ships in the series, but not because these two characters don't work well together, but because it's a fetishistic crack ship that should never have happened. At the risk of being roasted alive by Marvel fans, I'm going to compare Martial Arcs to another ship that follows the same flaw- Stucky, Steve and Bucky, Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

Let me be very clear here. Regardless of gender, two characters spending time together on screen does not automatically make them romantically viable together. Even worse, just because those two characters have the same genitals, does not automatically mean gay. Probably the worst part about this, however, is that just because two men are close with each other and have a strong friendship, it does not mean that there is any sexual tension or romantic feelings between those two. I genuinely feel sorry for people who think that. I understand shipping has no rules or boundaries (Elsanna, anyone?), but just because two characters "can" be shipped together doesn't mean they should. Even if this ship, or Stucky, or any other ship under the "but muh gays!" logic becomes canon, it will be a complete surprise because of the sheer lack of any romantic interaction, chemistry, or logic. That said, we come to one of my top 3.

 _White Rose: Weiss x Ruby_

Oh yeah, I know how many people see this ship and its fans. A good portion of people just White Rose shippers as insane lesbo-files, and for a good number of us, we are, but any fan of RWBY has to understand that White Rose has probably the widest, most overarching fan support from the entire fandom. There are even thousands of fanfictions of just these two.

That said, even those this ship is in my personal top 3, I have to be completely objective in my analysis, and while these two do have one of the best friendships in the series, a romantic relationship would make no sense. Since Ruby and Weiss have had the most one-on-one interactions out of most other characters in RWBY, they've had one of the greatest amount of times to grow their relationship. By volume 5, they're very physical with one another. That's about it. I know I mentioned something earlier about Nora finding any excuse she can to touch Ren, but when it comes to White Rose, there's no physical contact that can be considered to be romantic between them. Just so I'm clear, though, I want to point out that physical contact doesn't inherently mean there's any romance. I know some people only touch people that they're attracted, but a lot of people have absolutely no problems hugging their friends or even cuddling them for hours. That doesn't mean that these people want to date.

There are no context clues that Ruby and Weiss are romantically interested in one another, no sexual tension, and no romantic chemistry between them. There are no scenes within Ruby that can even be mistaken that way. If there's anything else I can say about White Rose, it goes back to what I said about Martial Arcs and Stucky where a close friendship doesn't automatically create a romantic relationship. Friendships exist. Don't devalue the friendship they do have to satisfy your fetishistic lust with a relationship they don't. At the very least, you can actually argue that Ruby and Weiss are good friends when Jaune and Ren seem kind of forced or barely there.

As for why this crush is so popular, shipping doesn't follow any rules, but there are certain trends that someone can follow, and it's easy to that shippers like White Rose so much because the two originally hated each other and are now friends. That's the good shit right there. There's a better example of this later, though.

 _Bumblebee: Yang x Blake_

This one is my OTP. I'm not even going to attempt to hide that much. What really strikes me and many others about this relationship is that Blake and Yang share the strongest and deepest sexual tension beyond any other pair in the series, as well as the most scenes that can be considered romantic beyond any other characters. I won't go through the list for you, but there is one single aspect to their relationship that illustrates the point.

Blake is the only character that Yang goes out of her way to care for. Call it a mother complex if you wish, a good portion of Yang's sanity and personhood hinges on Blake's approval of her. Unlike Weiss whom Yang is surprised whenever Weiss shows kindness to her, or Ruby who is literally her little sister, Jaune whom she only talks to in passing, Neptune and Sun whom she doesn't care one way or the other for, she essentially hinges on Blake's every word, even going so far as to nearly panic at the prospect Blake didn't believe her about attacking Mercury. She's even mentioned in volume 5 how much Blake means to her in her angsty stupor. Not to mention how this relationship isn't one sided since Yang was the only one that Blake acknowledged at the battle of Mistral, and how Adam, Blake's canon ex-boyfriend, was able to notice Blake's affection for her.

While the argument could be made that these are indeed clues to an intimately emotional relationship but not a sign of romance, honestly, I'm likely to agree with you if it weren't for the fact that within context, they don't really make sense otherwise. For instance, with an entire battle going on around her, with one of her teammates having recently been murdered before Blake got there, when she arrived at Haven Academy at the crux of the battle with Cinder and her gang, Yang was the only one she acknowledged. With most of her friends and family being downed, and one of her friends actually dying if it weren't for Jaune's intervention, only noticing Yang doesn't make any sense, no matter how strong their friendship is. That's romance.

That and essentially every interaction they've had is generic towards bad anime romances.

 _Tauradonna/Beauty and the Beast: Blake x Adam_

This ship goes by two names, for those who are confused. That aside, the only reason I'm reviewing this ship despite my rules against anything that is arguably immoral and how this relationship is clearly homicidal and abusive, as well as my rule on villains x heroes, is because this relationship is canon. Adam is Blake's ex-boyfriend.

I really can't add anything to this review that I didn't just say. Their relationship is canonically abusive, and Adam has tried to kill Blake on several occasions. If that doesn't constitute and unhealthy, terrible relationship that should never again occur, then I don't know what was, and personally, I care about Blake too much to ship her with such a jagoff.

 _Reading Rainbow/Black Chameleon: Blake x Ilia_

My problems with these two stem mostly from Ilia's character archetype being that "tragic lesbian" character, and the fact that most of her actions are decided through the power of boners. I don't like it. With Ilia being the first canonical open LGBT+ character, she wasn't handled well since the one person she was into was someone she couldn't have, and that all of her actions stem from those affections. As for how Blake might feel about Ilia, it clearly isn't romantic. They don't have any interactions within the series that makes me believe they have any redeeming factors to their friendship that can create a romantic relationship, but personally, I hope they treat Ilia with a bit of romantic realism and have her become interested in another character- one that she actually has a shot with and doesn't have a harem.

Maybe if Ilia didn't choose to leave the White Fang or spare the Belladonna's lives because Blake asked her to, I would take this one more seriously, but as things currently stand, I can't.

 _Love and War: Pyrrha x Nora_

All I can say about this one is smut fanfiction. Again, Pyrrha is into Jaune. Just Jaune. There is no denying that much, and saying otherwise is wish fulfillment at its best, and once again, Rennora is almost canon as of volume 4. This one would never happen. If it does, all I can really say is that Rooster Teeth would have gotten the idea from a fanfiction where these two decided to experiment with each other like a bad college pr0n. That's it.

It would still be a pretty good fanfiction, though.

 _Monochrome: Blake x Weiss_

I can see why this ship exists, but yet again, I don't really see this working out as things are now. There is definitely room for improvement here, and I could Monochrome being a contender to ship two of RWBY's most popular ships in one setting, but for that to work, the two would need to grow their relationship with some one-on-one time that can at the very least be mistaken for "something more."

Let's begin with the obvious- the two started off on terrible terms, even giving enough fuel for volume 1's finale, and that's the type of place where a lot of ships come from. After that point, though, there are a number of points where Weiss shows that she's grown as a character and uses this growth to openly show she cares about Blake. Maybe not romantically, but nevertheless. No matter how you look at it, however, Monochrome currently can't hold a candle to Bumblebee, even if it might be some decent competition for Black Sun. However, the one thing this ship desperately needs more than most, could honestly use more than most, and that would make more sense if thrown in for volume 6 than for other pairings, is some kind of date environment.

 _Freezer Burn: Yang x Weiss_

That said, let's get this one out of the way before we move onto another big ship. When it comes to Weiss and Yang's relationship, there's clearly more depth to their friendship than has been shown up to this point, and Yang rescuing Weiss from Raven's camp as well as their conversation about Blake was partially meant to illustrate this. While those two things can't be considered romantic in any way (one is geared more towards Bumblebee and Weiss's backstory, and the other is after Weiss had experienced several months worth of trauma and domestic violence so naturally she'd cling towards one of her only friends), it clearly shows that these two are closer than we previously thought.

Either way, these two don't really talk on any terms that would constitute that kind of reaction. They're friends, nothing more. Before volume 5, I probably wouldn't have even said that much.

In any case, Freezer Burn is a nonexistent ship. Not a bad one, but not one that makes sense either.

 _Black Sun: Blake x Sun_

This is the only other ship that could sink Bumblebee. Just like Arkos and possibly Rennora, this ship is being pushed hard by Rooster Teeth, and I defy anyone to tell me that that isn't true. Whenever Sun flirts with Blake, she responds positively. Every time. However, this is only true up until volume 4 when he essentially stalks her to Menagerie, but it's not his lack of any personal boundaries that bugs me here, especially when you get into the story telling mechanic about how Sun was the first person who got Blake to actually confront her problems, and by God, he's not about to let her stop. He started this journey with her, and he's going to finish it. I also like this idea about how Sun foils Blake's character because Blake is known to run from all of her problems, but Sun blatantly will not let her, and plays a huge role in the climax of her character arc where she confronts Adam and the White Fang with him. Not only that, but do I even need to mention their complementary semblances?

When Sun showed up and started hitting on Blake, and when she actually seemed to respond to him like she was interested, I was happy to jump on this ship to see where it sailed, and by the end of volume 5, I was genuinely disappointed. Their relationship hasn't at all improved since volume 1. They're still going on the same dates, Sun's still moving forward and forcing Blake to confront her demons, but with this being all there is without any other stimulus to help them grow, it doesn't really show me that their relationship is worth having. They're just doing the same thing they were doing since the beginning of the series. This makes me just not want to care about their relationship, and that is without a doubt the biggest pitfall that romances collapse on- why should I care? It's not exciting nor engaging and the romance just seems like basic puppy love that we all go through in middle school before having truly meaningful relationships in high school, college, and as adults. Not to mention that come volume 4, what Blake and Sun had previously when it came to their flirting collapses into nothing more that can just be a basic friendship that doesn't go much further than chatting over tea.

Before this review for Black Sun concludes, I want to compare this pairing to Bumblebee, not just because it's my OTP nor because it's the more popular ship by far, but rather due to the similarities between Yang and Sun. Both of them are highly boisterous and loud characters. They're filled with life and personality, and I'd be more than happy to share a drink with either of them if I ever get the chance since I'm positive they'd make great friends to everyone they meet, light up the room, and make everyone around them happier just by being in the same room as them. The difference lies in how they come off. Yang is one of the most complex characters in the series by the end of volume 5. I was first attracted by the bewbs and the typical party girl behavior, but seeing her struggle with the inner turmoil of hurting an innocent person, trying to overcome a debilitating injury and learning to control her semblance in a different way than she previously had, I fell in love with her.

Sun is just annoying. Any time he comes on screen, I roll my eyes and groan a little bit. He'd been fun to hang out with for maybe five minutes until I got sick of him and was dying to find an excuse to leave the room. When Blake slapped him, I smiled. I wasn't happy he got slapped for comedy purposes or because he disrespected Blake, but out of a sadistic sense of satisfaction that the kid got what I felt he deserved. For any writer, one of your major characters shouldn't get that reaction. I'll admit that he's very capable of taking things seriously, and no one can deny that, but seeing how after 5 seasons, he still treats even serious topics with inappropriate humor isn't endearing, it's annoying. Yang just seems like she'd be a better fit for Blake.

If nothing else, Sun might be what she wanted at one point, but Yang is what she needs.

 _Ladybug: Blake x Ruby_

This is the last of the major Team RWBY ships that don't involve incest, and I just can't see this happening. The two do seem to have a decent friendship off screen, and occasionally on screen as well if only very rarely, but this is one of those ships that I have to ask why people so strongly cling to. They don't share any meaningful screen time together, whether it's towards their friendship or something else, or if it's in a group setting or with each other, but they way I would describe their friendship to one in the real world is that friend whom you only have during the school semester but lose touch with over the break and will probably never see again. Granted, Remnant has an entirely different culture than Earth does, but still. This ship is even less existent than Freezer Burn.

At least they both like books, I guess? It was the one strong connection they had that no one ever saw again, but hey, at least it happened, and that's all the shippers needed.

 _Rose Garden: Ruby x Oscar_

This is one of those ships that you have to ask yourself why it exists. Like I said, I know that shipping doesn't have any boundaries, but the only reason for this ship to possibly exist is because the two are close in age when compared to everyone else. Ruby was the youngest huntress at Beacon Academy, and Oscar is younger than everyone else. Makes sense, right?

Other than that, what else is there? There is absolutely no depth to the relationship between these two, and even the one time they had a chat together that Ozpin didn't interrupt was more to further Oscar's character arc and to show a half-assed attempt at Ruby's character development than to create a friendship between the two.

Again, why does this ship exist? The fact that they're the youngest characters is what created the ship, but when you actually ask the question of what makes this ship stand, can you really answer that question in any positive way? It simply cannot hold up to scrutiny. I can't even add anything to this review other than how much Rose Garden doesn't make any logical sense, but really, when have shippers ever cared? What's really odd is how much of a following Rose Garden has. Why? Just… why?

 _Chaos Emerald: Cinder x Emerald_

This is the last one in my top 3 if only because of the potential of where this ship could go, and the potential to show more about Cinder and Emerald's characters. First of all, it is beyond clear how Emerald feels about Cinder. For the former street mouse, she views Cinder as a protector, a mother figure, something akin to a savior who made it so she no longer had to live on the street, and at the end of the day is totally devoted to her. Emerald's loyalties lie with Cinder, not with Salem. It's also shown that Cinder does trust Emerald to some degree since she didn't hesitate to use the pickpocket as a mouthpiece.

Like I said, I like this ship just for the potential that's there. I don't doubt that if Cinder wanted to get her rocks off and made a move on her henchman, Emerald would only hesitate a little bit, if at all, to fool around with her, but given Cinder's characterization, a friendly romp would be all there was to that. Cinder clearly doesn't see Emerald the same way she sees her. There has been nothing shown that says that Cinder views Emerald as anything else than a means to an end.

As for where this ship could go, I can see Emerald actually teaching Cinder the value of love and friendship in some way, maybe not turning Cinder into a hero, but without a doubt, turning her against Salem. Perhaps she would have to choose between saving Emerald's life or an immediate victory against Team RWBY. Maybe she'd even have a shot to get her revenge against Ruby, and still chooses Emerald. On the complete contrary to that, we could also have a route that shows how sadistic Cinder can be by showing her how much she takes advantage of the fact that Emerald will never betray her. Emerald could face regular beatings and the sexual manipulation I mentioned earlier at the hands of her mistress (no pun intended), and because Cinder would never even think about turning her back on the woman who saved her life, whom she loves either as a role model or as a potential mate, she continues to put up with it. If that's the case, we could even add some more complexity to Emerald's character as maybe going too far would invoke a fleeting sympathetic moment where she feels bad for the abuse she inflicts, only to still continue to do it, only in a different way. Maybe the beatings and toying with her feelings in the bedroom stop, but Emerald would face more deception and manipulation.

There is just so much potential to see where this ship could go, either in canon or fanfiction, and that's why Chaos Emeralds is without a doubt one of my top 3 favorite ships.

 _Snowbird: Winter x Qrow_

Hate sex. This is one of those relationships where people would look at them and say "they just need to bang and get it over with" because it's so true. A trained officer in any military isn't going to break rank and brawl with somebody whom they don't have strong feelings for, and in particular, they're not going to have the violent, flirty expressions that these two gave each other when they were fighting.

Snowbird is synonymous with hate sex. They brutally despise each other, that much is obvious, but you've never needed to like someone to want them, and this creates some of the greatest character dynamics in all of fiction. Winter and Qrow were shipped hard for good reason. While they did follow the trend of "they hate each other so they must obviously want each other," at the very least it makes sense this time since their violence is a mask for flirtation and desire. The following for Snowbird is as strong as it is because that subtext is there, and unless they completely kill off both characters, that following isn't going away. Also, while we've never seen any real romantic interactions between Qrow and Winter, if the writers of RWBY suddenly announced that Qrow and Winter were an item, or if that's confirmed in any new seasons that may arise, I don't think anyone would be surprised.

 _Marshmallow: Pyrrha x Ruby_

Again, why does this ship exist? It's one I've seen a lot of recently, but I just don't get it. As far as I remember, these two have never actually spoken directly to one another within the show, only ever having group conversations where one of them was addressing everyone in the vicinity. Use some logic in your shipping.

I would, however, say these two would be a good fit for each other. Ruby is energetic in an adorable, puppy-like demeanor that would easily compliment Pyrrha's shy, motherly bearing. Their personalities don't contradict each other in any way, but they don't match perfectly either, and this creates the best kind of pairing that the healthiest, strongest relationships are built around. It's too bad we never see them interact within the show. There was potential for a really strong friendship between these two that we never even saw touched upon. It's disappointing.

 _Nuts and Dolts: Penny x Ruby_

This is a good one. I can definitely see why this is a favorite among the cast and crew of the show considering that if any LGBT ship besides Bumblebee would have become canon, it would have been Nuts and Dolts. Penny and Ruby share the same dynamic that I mentioned for Marshmallow. Their personalities mesh in just the right way where they don't contradict at all, but they're only similar enough to compliment each other's strengths and make up for each other's weaknesses as people, and they even had a good introduction to one each other in volume 1, only being furthered in volumes 2 and 3. Ruby is the first person Penny has ever trusted with her true identity. Ruby is Penny's first friend, and she's been trusted with Penny's biggest secret, causing a deep and intimate connection between the two that no other pairing in the show shares. As for how they interact with one another, all I can say is that I'd be happy if there was a spin off AU series where these two were the only main characters. Show me that gooey, lovey goodness. This is shipping gold! Even if the writers didn't turn this into a canon romance, Penny and Ruby still share the greatest friendship in the show that no other characters can even come close to touching upon. I can't even say that for Bumblebee. Blake and Yang's relationship seems like a dam about to burst, a fire about to start, or a demon trying to break out of a cage, ang it's both passionate and exciting. Nuts and Dolts just makes me happy.

Come to think of it, if I wasn't so inexplicably dedicated to White Rose for reasons I don't fully understand, this would kick them out of my top 3 spot.

 _Lancaster: Jaune x Ruby_

This one, again, doesn't really make much sense to me, but just like Monochrome, I see room for this one to grow. Rooster Teeth obviously did want to show Ruby and Jaune's friendship that started their first day at Beacon was growing all throughout volume 4, but I really can't say there's anything deep or intimate between them. I feel like shipping them is forced and trite at best. They don't really have too much going for them, and as things currently stand, now that Team RWBY is back together for the upcoming volume 6, I could see Jaune's friendship with Ruby being quickly and so easily replaced by Blake, Weiss, and Yang that most people would forget that Ruby and Jaune were even being shipped together that hard to begin with.

It's a shame, too. I like Jaune. He's the underdog that a good portion of the fandom has been rooting for since day 1, and while his following might not have gotten stronger, it definitely hasn't gotten any weaker, and with his character arc only being furthered in almost every episode, making a lot of people think he was the main character instead of Ruby, he's clearly a fan favorite. When it comes to his relationship with Ruby, he's closer with her than Rooster Teeth tried to show he was with Ren. They go back and forth with one another, they tease and play, but they also confide some of their most threatening insecurities and weaknesses with each other and will definitely be in each other's lives long after Salem is defeated. They have one of the strongest friendships in the anime, and that should be kept. Ignore the romance. If nothing else, that would be disrespectful to what they currently have than a romance that needs to be shoehorned in. Personally, I think further exploring their friendship in more lighthearted scenarios would be a better option than creating a romance.

Don't get me wrong, a romance is still an option, but we're going to need to see something that warrants shipping them as hard as everyone is. The only way to do that, though, would be with less angst. Stop showing them comforting each other or giving each other the business, and start showing us that they make each other happy, if nothing else.

 _Iceberg: Neptune x Weiss_

Finally, we get to this moron. I find it hilarious that Neptune and Weiss's ship is named after an aquatic structure known to sink ships because if this becomes canon, RWBY's largest and most intense subcommunity would go nuts, myself included but for different reasons.

This ship was another one that the writers were pushing. Obviously. Neptune was blatantly coming onto Weiss the minute he saw her, and she was responding as if she were into him. She even repeatedly mentioned that she was into him. She was vehemently distraught that Ruby wouldn't let her team up with him when the group was investigating the White Fang during volume 2, and by volume 3 with the one interaction they might have had during the tournament, it was clear that these two had something going.

In this case, though, it's not the fact that Iceberg never had a chance to grow that makes me think Iceberg wouldn't work, but rather what has already been established for them. Regardless of their personalities or situations in life, Weiss and Neptune don't click on a level deeper than a kiddie pool. Their relationship is solely superficial, based entirely on surface level characteristics, and I think this is illustrated perfectly when Neptune flirts with the opposing all-female team during his all-male team's match in the Vytal Festival Tournament. If his sleaziness didn't show that much, it must have at least shown that he wouldn't be able to give Weiss what she deserves. He's shallow. Given Weiss's family and home life, she has never been afforded that same luxury.

The two just don't click. Most of the ships on this list have either been healthy and supportive at best or nonexistent at worst, but this is one I would consider a bad ship.

 _Sea Monkeys: Sun x Neptune_

Allow me to repeat myself. Just because two characters of the same gender share a deep friendship doesn't mean that there's any sexual tension. To be fair, I could definitely see Neptune suddenly realizing he's gay.

 _White Knight: Jaune x Weiss_

Jaune tried so hard to get Weiss to fall for him. I feel sorry for the guy for wasting so much time on someone who couldn't even stand to be in the same room with him when he had someone who genuinely cared about him waiting for him in his room. Literally one bed over. You idiot!

Jaune genuinely cares about Weiss. When she asked Neptune to the dance, he not only respected her enough not to fight for her when she had already chosen someone else over him, but he was also willing to step in and help their relationship work, which even though that's normally a bad idea, it speaks volumes that he got so pissed when Weiss had been hurt. Even though there hasn't been any sign that he still has feelings for her come volume 5, or even volume 3 for that matter, the kid saved her life after Cinder effectively killed her. She at least needs to buy him dinner. Who knows? Maybe now that Arkos is no longer a thing, Weiss might end up taking Pyrrha's spot as Jaune's girl, and it's not like their relationship doesn't have room to grow.

 _Raven x Vernal_

I couldn't find a ship name for these two, and maybe I'm reading too much into the whole "sleeping in the same tent and always being behind closed doors with each other" thing, but I feel like there's some kind of subtext that these two are shacking up. Given Raven's devil-may-care personality, it doesn't seem like she'd make a huge deal out of the whole thing, and with her and Vernal being as dedicated to one another as they are with all of the other suspicious off-camera things that go on, even if the two aren't completely devoted to one another and are just trying to ease some tension with each other, I feel like these two were implied to be a thing.

Am I wrong? I admit, this one is more subjective than the others, so let me know what you think about this one. I'm intrigued to hear what everyone else has to say about these two.

 _Cyberwtich: Ironwood x Glynda_

We only ever see these two interact on two occasions. The first was when he said hello to her in a relatively charming way that she aptly responded to, and then he danced with her in a later episode. I don't know how to feel about that. If nothing else, it seems like Glynda kind of tolerates his advances since he's a gentleman about them and ultimately know where he stands, but I don't really see these two together. Honestly, Glynda seems like she's going to be an old maid.

 _Conclusion_

These are all of the ships I wanted to review. I think it goes without saying that every set of reviews like this is prey to a lot of subjective interpretation, so it's not like I won't hear out any criticism or disagreements, despite how objective I tried to be in my rankings. Keep in mind, however, for the sake of brevity, I wasn't going to go into too much detail and give too many examples of what I said about most of the characters involved in this article. Writing down every aspect to Lancaster's friendship, for example, and fully breaking own their dynamic would have taken too long and would have just been boring, so most of what was written came with no real supporting evidence. I can admit that. While I did still try to give as many examples as possible to illustrate the point, even going so far as to compare certain ships to others, most of what I attempted to do was analyze the character's relationships and how they behaved around one another. If someone watching the show for the first time couldn't glean any romantic tension between two characters, I thought it was worth mentioning. If the characters have shown to be better friends than a relationship would ever possibly allow, that was something that was crucial to their strength as a ship.

There are, however, a lot of ships that I didn't want to bring up that many people will probably ask about. Keep in mind the rules I set forth previously. Many of the ships I didn't mention, such as Rosewick or Gemstones (Roman x Ruby, and Emerald x Ruby respectively), would have been shipping villains and heroes which only makes sense in terms of horror stories or certain types of fetishism. While villains flirting with heroes might be a good idea, it's not a healthy ship, and wasn't reviewed. Other pairings like anything involving Glynda and a student, or anything with siblings, would have broken the rules I set forth about arguable immorality. If it could be argued to be evil, I didn't want to touch it. As for ships like Coco x Fox, Velvet x Yatsuhashi, or most of the ships that cross Teams RWBY and JNPR, didn't meet the cut based on necessary screen time.

There were a few ships that broke these rules, and I want to address these. First and foremost, Tauradonna. As I mentioned in the review, their relationship is actually canon, and it was incredibly abusive. At several points in the story, Adam has tried to kill Blake, and I wanted to give this the attention this deserved as an unhealthy relationship that no one should ever have to go through. The bigger reason, though, was because it was canon, and that gave it the privilege of being on this list. The biggest rule I broke had to do with meaningful screen time, and you might have noticed that I said in a lot of these reviews that the pair in question didn't really have any real conversations with each other, Ladybug, Marshmallow, and Rose Garden to name a few. The reason I paid so much attention to them was because they're still popular ships, so they needed to be addressed.

As for my villain rule, there were some specifics I want to point out regarding certain characters. When it comes to Mercury, even though I pointed out Chaos Emeralds due to its potential, I left him out of every ship because of his screen time and chemistry with other villains. I might have been able to put him up with Torchwick, but even with those two, he's just kind of… there. He doesn't really have any characterization outside of what Cinder and Emerald get him to do, and didn't deserve to be addressed. As for Torchwick himself, the only characters he shares any significant screen time with are Neo and Cinder, but Cinder would have broken the same standard I set for Teacher x Student and its power dynamic since she's his boss, and Neo wasn't mentioned since her spinoff series is coming out soon and I want to see where that goes.

Then, you have Ozpin. A lot of people are going to hate me for this, but I genuinely don't think he's a hero. Given all of his ridiculous decisions throughout the series that an all be summed up to nothing more than stupidity, I have to question if he's really that big of an idiot, or if he's working for Salem on the sly. I think he's a villain. Plus, most ships would have broken the power dynamic, so it's a double edged sword with him.

Now, it's time for rankings! Thanks for reading this everyone. I appreciate your attention.

 _Best Ship: Nuts and Dolts_

 _Best Pseudo-canon ship: Rennora_

 _Worst Ship: Tauradonna_

 _Worst Ship, Excluding Tauradonna: Rose Garden_

 _Worst Pseudo-canon Ship: Iceberg_

 _Most Dead Ship: Arkos_

 _Most Likely Ship to Die: Black Sun_

 _Least Likely Ship to Occur: Cyberwitch_

 _Most Likely Ship to Occur: Rennora_

 _Cutest Pairing: Nuts and Dolts_

 _Most Intense Pairing: Bumblebee_

 _Most Dedicated Fanbase: White Rose_

 _Most Likely to Occur LGBT+ Ship: Bumblebee_

 _Least Likely to Occur LGBT+ Ship: Martial Arcs_

 _Greatest Potential: Lancaster_

 _Currently Going Nowhere: Black Sun_

 _Please, for the Love of God, Please Die: Black Chameleon_

 _My Personal Top 3: Bumblebee, Chaos Emeralds, White Rose_

 _My Personal Top 5: Bumblebee, Chaos Emeralds, White Rose, Nuts and Dolts, Torchwick x Neo_

 _Top Fetishist Ship: Martial Arcs_

 _My Guilty Pleasure Ship: Snowbird_

 _That Ship You Wouldn't Expect to Work but Kind of Does: Marshmallow_


End file.
